Bourbeau Announces 2012-13 Women’s Ice Hockey Schedule

Sep 14, 2012

Providence, R.I.—Head coach Amy Bourbeau has announced the women's ice hockey team's schedule for the upcoming 2012-2013 season. The Bears will compete in 31 games, including 17 home contests at Meehan Auditorium. In addition to a challenging ECAC Hockey & Ivy League lineup, this season will also call for a bit of international travel as the Bears ship up to Canada at the end of November to face McGill and the University of Montreal.

"We have a very competitive schedule, with some of our toughest competition in the first few weekends of play," said Bourbeau. "It is critical that we are ready from the start. Our first game is against Cornell—a rematch from last season's final playoff games—and the next two weekends we face the top teams in the league: Dartmouth, Harvard, St. Lawrence and Clarkson."

The season opens on the road in Ithaca to clash with the defending ECAC champion, Cornell, on Friday, Oct. 26 and Colgate on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Noting the strength of the ECAC, Coach Bourbeau said, "It is always tough to make the playoffs in our league, so that remains our focus at this point."

Early in November, the Bears will meet two more of their Ivy League rivals here at home: 2012 ECAC runner-up, Harvard, on Friday, Nov. 2 and Dartmouth, who finished second in the Ivy League last season, on Saturday, Nov. 3. Then the team hits the road again, meeting St. Lawrence on Friday, Nov. 9 and Clarkson on Saturday, Nov. 10. Brown went 2-0 against both schools in the 2011-2012 season. RIT comes to Providence for a doubleheader on Nov. 16-17, and the Bears will face local rival Providence College at Meehan on Nov. 23.

Afterwards, the team will pack up and head north for their road trip to Canada, where they will face the No. 1 and No. 12 teams from the 2012 Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), the Quebec federation for student sports. On Friday, Nov. 30, the Bears take on the University of Montreal, and on Saturday, Dec. 1, they face McGill.

"We have three players from the Montreal area, including our senior captain Laurie Jolin (Lachine, Montreal)," said Coach Bourbeau. "I thought it would be a great experience for all of them to return to their home country and play in front of family wearing a Brown uniform. It will be an exciting weekend for them."

When the squad returns to the States, the Bears will travel to upstate New York to battle two ECAC teams: RPI on Friday, Dec. 7, and Union on Saturday, Dec. 8. Brown will then play host to non-conference opponent Maine on Jan. 5-6, and to Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Jan. 11-12, for the second matchups of the season against those schools. On Monday, Jan. 17 and Wednesday, Jan. 19, the Bears will fight the Bulldogs of Yale.

"Travel partner games with Yale will be a battle," said Coach Bourbeau. "We play them back to back this season in January, and it is always tough to beat another Ivy team two days in a row."

On Jan. 25-26, the Bears have rematches against Colgate and Cornell, respectively. Then they head to Quinnipiac to take on the Bobcats on Friday, Feb 1. Another strong slate of Ivy League opponents follows, as Brown travels to Princeton on Feb. 2, Dartmouth on Feb. 8, and Harvard on Feb. 9. The season will close with four home games: Union on Feb. 15, Rensselaer on Feb. 16, Princeton for a third time on Feb. 22, and Quinnipiac on Feb. 23.

ECAC Quarterfinals begin on March 1 with semifinal action starting on March 9. The League Championship is set for March 10.